From Hampi to Gokarna

Cliff jumpin in Hampi!

So this instrument I am playing here makes the most beautiful, perfect, heavenly harmonics that an angel weeps everytime someone plays it.  It is called a Hang drum.  My buddy showed me this youtube video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LfJLvuZqmQ>online about a year ago and ive been obsessed.  I frequently meditate to this music.  To get one of these instruments is nearly impossible.  There is only one manufacturer in the world and he lives in Switzerland.  To actually get one of these you need to make a pilgrimage to the inventor.  Talk with him and get him to put you on the waiting list.  Then it takes about 4 years for your hang drum to be made.  

I happened to be cutting up some food for lunch and heard the hang drum outside, thinking someone had just put in on the stereo.  Because i never thought in my whole life i would see one of these instruments in real life. When i walked out of the kitchen to see the young deadlocked hippie playing this drum, i nearly dropped all my food.  I just stared at the man and smiled for he is the MAN for being able to get one of these drums.  I sat there half dreaming half meditating not eating my food, as he played for close to an hour.  Feeling like i had achieved perfect concentration I stolled over to an near by slackline and cruised it, back and forth, then attempted some yoga moves and bailed.  when i fell i caught the hang-man's eyes again.  When he finally finished playing i asked him all about the drum. and he ended up trading me a lesson for a slack lesson.  So i taught him how to slackline and i got to play this sweet ass instrument.

I had talked to him about filming him play.  And we decided that one of these days i would film him on top of the rocks at sunset.  But my other friend Matt bought us tickets to gokarna so i left before i could get some good footage of the hang.  but i bought his cd and maybe one day ill will be inspiredto get one myself...i also need a spare 10grand.

Some lovely travelers...Simone(Holland) and Matt(Australia).

Sweet sunset at hampi!

Last day of climbing...rage hard...found a sweet crack and destoryed my hand. but it dont matter, not gonna be climbin again till i get back to the states.

GOKARNA...beautiful beaches!!!!  This morning I did this 2 hr Kundilini course...and woooowww.  So amazing.  Kundlini revolves a lot around breathing as well as your sexual organs.  It is a tantric breathing excercise.  I recomend everyone try it.



PEACE and LOVE folks i cant wait to come home miss ya all

IM-GE-S

Yea mom and dad i got a tattoo, hope u dont mind...i mean your body is a temple so paint it, right?

This little girl is no more than 4 years old and she does this while her father plays the drums, so the family can make money.  

Beautiful Hampi!

Me and my buddy Matt gettin up close with an elephant.

Have u ever seen down an elephants nose, well now u have.  These elephants stick the bananas in their nose then fire them into their mouths...its pretty cool.

Hampi Temple

Me, Matt, Yusef at the Hanuman temple.

Cute monkey!

Hanuman Temple

 

The great Pilgrimage boulder Chris Sharma climbed on in 2003.  I couldnt even get off the ground.

 

Current picture of me.  We were playing poker this was my poker face...it worked i won 500 rupbees.  (shaved everythin but the sweet stash im rockin)

My Thesis haha

Climbing is my freedom, my religion, it is my divine. 
My temple is the cliff, the boulder, the pebbles. 
My god is me.
My idols are the pilgrames before me.
My messenger is the monkey.
My tools are made of metal and rubber, sometimes herbs can help.

Climbing is not just a sport, or a hobbie.  It is a way of life.  A search for something greater.  A mediation, a form of yoga.  Within this religion/subculture (whatever name fits you, though through any word you only limit it) there are ethics, values, mysticism, highs, lows, rituals, family and community.

Mysticism/High/Divine:

With every movement, every breathe, energy flows through the body with as much power as a flash flood.  Enough energy to levitate, or at least enough to make one think so.  This energy is commonly seen in imagery of the snake in Kundulini.  Yet where as in kundulini one has to meditate for hours on end, in climb one simply has to follow the bodies natural tendency to explore the above.  Ecstasy was created by the ancients to describe climbing [meaning freedom the body]. Death is not an issue because it doesnt exist.  Some people think of heaven as living high up in the sky, with the clouds, among the birds and the ether, but climbers dont believe in heaven.  For they believe in earth and they are living what heaven should be like.

Rituals (a few to wrap your mind around):

Some rock addicts chant sacred folks songs or rap lyrics before an ascent, in order to initiate a specific mindset before take off.
Other muckle-crushers part take in ancient Sadhu (hindu holy men) rituals reuniting with the holy spirit of the great GanjA.  Creating a union with the spirit allows one to induce relaxation and pure awareness of the now. 
Another common ritual is that of starvation.  Some cliff-pushers are simply baddass and reached a higher level of enlightenment where they dont need food or water...Jon Tierney being one of them.  Others who havnt reached that level yet, try anyway in an attempt to test their will power and strength.

Values/Ethics/Morality:

Well rock-smokers come in all shapes and sizes.  Some have seen the darkside and climbed past it, and others are dick holes stuck behind their own ego.  So I can not speak for the dick holes, but for the true sky-climbers there is much respect among fellow searchers because one knows that we are all on the search for climber enlightenment and inherently at different stages of evolution.  Some outsiders may look at a climber and call him a bum.  But those outsiders dont know the whole story, for if the outsider or the rich business man/woman saw the buddha he/she may also call him a bum.  But a crimp-chaser lives by their word.  If they do something they take full responsibility.  If another needs help, the climber gives what they can.  The "bum" image of a climber may beonly what you can see, but realize behind all that is a story of someone who has given away all their love to other sentient beings, surviving only of the pure energy of nature and its beauty.  For beauty is what drives the climber.  And flowing within the current of beauty is morality itself.  Good and bad are relative terms, but morality is when beauty reaches our hearts and can be shared with others.

An Ancient Paradise

I live in a TP among millions of boulders.  Palm trees and brush fill the excess space, created an environment that seems dianosaurs would roam.  Been doin yoga at sunrise as the birds fly over head.  Pretty much livin the life, smokin da herbs and chillin out. 

Climbing some rocks

 

The is Rishi, a rainbow brother who runs the Arba Mystica...the place where i am staying.  Cool fella.

 

Hampi Temple!

 

More climbin...havnt lost it yet.

 River which isolates hampi's natural beauty from the rest of india.  Supposedly there are crocodiles in there but i havent seen any when we went swimming.

LOVIN LIFE...i think i may move here for a long period of time in the future.  Hampi is so beautiful and there is so much to do.  The people are great and everything is relatively cheap.


"Why do people fear death so?  Because they realize, unconsciously at least, that their lives are mere parodies of what living should be."  -Tom Robbins